How Voter Intimidation Could Get Uglier
A court order that restricted poll watchers for decades shows how their tactics once intimidated voters, and why this year could be much worse.
Voters stand in line to cast ballots at an early voting polling location for the 2020 presidential elections in Fairfax, Virginia.
Photographer: Sarah Silbiger/BloombergIn the lead-up to the election, U.S. President Donald Trump and the Republican Party have made repeated comments about dispatching law enforcement officials and other concerned citizens to monitor urban polling centers, based on claims of massive voter fraud.
He has been frank about targeting “Democrat cities” and he has the full weight of the U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr behind him pledging to do the same. Despite the fact that voter fraud occurrences are exceptionally rare, the Trump administration’s threats have shaken the nerves of many voters, especially Black and Latino voters, given that these are the populations historically targeted for poll-watcher operations that intimidate voters and challenge the eligibility of their voting credentials.